So today I read a twitter conversation between John Green, Maureen Johnson, Barry Goldblatt and Shannon Hale. Blog followers will know that I quite like these people (okay you know that I like 3 of the 4 but I follow them all on twitter and quite like them all) about the evils of goodreads.
Here is the rest of the twitter conversation.
This made me angry because that's not Goodreads. Yes we have drama, but last time I checked the internet is full of drama-lamas. So being the intrepid journalist I am I decided to go on Goodreads and just read down my updates feed to see how true the accusations of "author hate" and "negativity" were. To be completely honest I was kinda surprised by the results.
Aside from the one current author/book drama EVERYTHING was pretty much positive. This is not to bash the above authors, who I respect and enjoy, but to point out sometimes you see what you expect to see. They see hatred and negativity because that's when they end up on Goodreads. They aren't seeing our typical interactions or partaking in the groups, challenges or friendships that are formed there. They are looking at a narrow sliver of the experience and condemning the whole, which isn't fair, accurate or right.
9 comments:
THIS. This exactly.
Thanks!
Well done. Thanks for this -- refocusing the discussion on the positive.
So many excellent points - so little time!
I still don't get goodreads! lol but I see what you're getting at.
Thanks! Glad I could summarize it somewhat.
Not every social network is for everyone but I'm glad to give you some insight into the REAL goodreads since it's not often what you hear about.
You're welcome! By and far goodreads is a positive place, the negativity just seems to spill over more across the internet than the positivity.
admittedly, part of it is that I feel like it's a time suck for me to figure it out vs. what I already have (which is a total blogging time suck). But you are totally right, I have an account and pay no attention to it until there is drama... I am looking for drama!
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